Renée Klang Avelino (

La Guaira La Guaira () is the capital city of the Venezuelan Vargas (state), state of the same name (formerly named Vargas) and the country's main port, founded in 1577 as an outlet for nearby Caracas. The city hosts its own professional baseball team i ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, 30 November 1916 –

Santiago de los Caballeros Santiago de los Caballeros ("James, son of Zebedee, Saint James of the Knights"), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, 17 September 2014) was a Dominican

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

and

First Lady of the Dominican Republic First Lady of the Dominican Republic () is the title referring to the wife, or designee, of the president of the Dominican Republic. The official government Office of the First Lady was created by Decree 741-00 on September 10, 2000. The positio ...

from 1978 to 1982. The wife and widow of the Dominican President Antonio Guzmán, she founded the National Council for Childhood (CONANI) and earned the mote of "the Eternal First Lady". After the presidency of her late husband, she was devoted to philanthropy and volunteerism in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.Biografía de Renée Klang Guzmán

Biography

Renée Klang was born in

, to Charles Klang, a French diplomat, and Judith Avelino, a Brazilian woman. When she was a teenager, her family settled in the Dominican Republic. She did her secondary studies on

and her university studies on

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

, where she graduated in Dentistry at the

Autonomous University of Santo Domingo In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be defi ...

. Amid her studies in Santo Domingo, she met Silvestre Antonio Guzmán. Klang married Guzmán on 28 October 1939 and dropped out of college. After the fall of the dictatorship of Trujillo, they devoted themselves to politics and joined the Juan Bosch's

Dominican Revolutionary Party The Dominican Revolutionary Party (, PRD) is a political party in the Dominican Republic. Traditionally a left-of-centre party and social democratic in nature, the party has shifted since the 2000s toward the political centre. The party's dist ...

. She bore two children, Iván (1944–1970) and Sonia (born 1946). The latter was minister of Industry and Commerce during

Hipólito Mejía Rafael Hipólito Mejía Domínguez (born 22 February 1941) is a Dominican politician who served as President of the Dominican Republic from 2000 to 2004. During his presidential term in office the country was affected by one of its worst econ ...

's presidency. During the presidency of her husband, Klang shared with two popes:

John Paul I Pope John Paul I (born Albino Luciani; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal h ...

and

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. The former wrote about Klang in his diary and said that: "The wife of the president of the Dominican Republic is intelligent and vivacious. She is cultured and serious, she knows how to go to the root of problems without any boasting." After her husband’s suicide, just days before the end of his constitutional term, she moved back to Santiago and dedicated to philanthropy.

Death

She died in Santiago, aged 97, due to complications from a thrombosis in the right leg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klang de Guzman, Renee 1916 births 2014 deaths Deaths from thrombosis First ladies of the Dominican Republic Dominican Revolutionary Party politicians Dominican Republic philanthropists Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo alumni Dominican Republic people of Brazilian descent Dominican Republic people of French descent French expatriates in the Dominican Republic White Dominicans 20th-century philanthropists